CHARACTERISTIC DEEP-SEA TYPES. 



POLYPS. 



145 



gance of form, and for the brilliant lustre and iridescent colors 

 of the axis, in some of a bright emerald-green, in others like 

 burnished gold or mother-of-pearl. The known species are all 



Fig. 4.56 a. — Iridogorgia Pourtalesii. ^. 



inhabitants of deep water, and with the exception of Dasy- 

 g org la Agassiziiy which occurs off the New England coast, are 

 all from the West Indies. 



A large species is Lepidogorgia gracilis, which grows to a 

 height of nearly three feet. A smaller gorgonian, but perhaps 

 the most common off our east coast, extending from 200 to 

 about 1,300 fathoms, is Acanella Normanl (Fig. 457), a 

 branching bush-like orange-brown coral. It grows to a height 

 of about a foot, and is nearly as broad as high, its branches 

 growing out three or four together from the joints. 



Cerafoisis ornata is a large and beautiful species peculiarly 

 characteristic of deep water in all latitudes, its golden or bronzy 

 chitinous joints contrasting finely with the clear ivory-white 

 calcareous ones. Lepidisis is a gorgonian growing in the shape 

 of a tall thin stem a yard or more in height, its axis divided 



